(A N)
Wow, long time no see! Well, here it is! :) *Attempts to sing opera* I want to thank LOOOOVELY! AND QUINNNNY AND MOOOOOM, AND YOOOOOOU! For being awesome! *Bows* Thank you, thank you very much. XD
My heart thudded to a halt when I spotted Dan through a criss-crossed wall of rusty prison bars.
He lay unnaturally still on the cell floor, his green eyes closed, his muddy blonde hair mixing with the straw that lined it. Without warning, I felt all of the strength drain from my body, and I swayed slightly, my mind spinning in horror at the sight.
Natalia had gotten to Dan before I could. I had been too slow- I wasn't in time to save him!
Hot tears blinded me, and I felt as if I would collapse on the cold ground.
"No." I whispered, stumbling towards the cage. Dan was quiet, abnormally so. He looked so innocent and peaceful, lying there in the straw...
I felt my heart snap, and pain bombarded my senses, flooding my mind with anguish.
I sobbed, shaking the bars of his prison cell wildly, not caring who heard my cries. "NO!" I slumped to the ground, my back against the prison door, bawling. Dan was gone. My little brother, the one who was always teasing me, and pulling pranks, was GONE.
Grace's death had hurt me so much, but that was nothing compared to the agony that threatened to envelop me now. I felt as if the life was being sucked out of my body with each labored breath, and I couldn't have cared less. Nothing mattered now. Nothing.
He had been all that I had left.
"Geez, Amy." A sleepy voice said, breaking through the wall of pain."Don't cry over the warrior. It'll give me a bad reputation."
My eyes popped open in surprise, and I shrieked in shock, scrambling away from my seat, when I found myself staring into the face of a very much alive Dan.
"D-D-DAN?" I gaped at him, my mind spinning in a mixture of confused relief, and the still fresh feeling of heartbreak. "You're... ALIVE!" Relief crashed down on me like a wave on a shore.
Dan sat up. "I'm alive." He told me, agreeing through a huge yawn.
"Oh, Dan!" I sobbed- this time from joy- "I thought I'd lost you!"
Dan grinned at me. A grin that, moments before, I'd been sure I'd never see again. "I'm not that easy to get rid of, Amy." He reached up and pulled a piece of straw out of his hair. "You know, I would kind of appreciate it if you got me out of here." He added.
I gulped and hurriedly brushed aside my tears. "Right," I said shakily, my emotions still raw. I grabbed Grace's knife and jammed it into the heavy iron padlock; hesitantly, I wiggled the knife. Nothing happened.
Dan eyed me dubiously. "Do you even know how to pick a lock?" He asked impatiently. I gritted my teeth, and jostled the lock faster.
"Y-Yes, Grace taught me."
"Let me try." He insisted, making a grab at the knife in my hand.
"Dan! Let go!" I cried, feeling the metal bend dangerously in my hand.
"No," Dan argued stubbornly, tugging at the knife. "I've got this, just let me-"
SNAP!
I stared down in horror at the fragment of jagged metal in my hand. Then I looked at Dan's stunned face.
"You... broke it." I said, my voice strangely monotone. Dan reddened and looked away, then kicked the bars of his prison cell, hard. They rattled loudly, the sound reverberating dismally off the stone walls. "How am I going to get you out now?" I finally whispered, trying hide the worry in my tone.
Dan ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "You can't, I'm doomed." He said, half jokingly. "It's okay, I never liked freedom, anyhow."
I glared at him and bent to examine the lock. Some of the metal was still wedged inside, and I wiggled it doubtfully with a finger.
"Amy, I have something to tell you." Dan said quietly.
"Hm?" I asked distractedly, hissing as my skin was pierced by the metal. Blood pooled from the small wound, and I fanned my hand to cool the painful sting.
Dan grabbed my flapping hand through the bars. "Amy, listen to me! It's about Grace. I found out why she was so interested in spying here."
I looked up, confused at his now serious tone. "What do you mean, "Found out"? We already knew that she was trying to figure out who murdered those poor nobles."
Dan sighed, impatiently, "Yes, but there's more. I found a letter in Grace's handwriting saying that we are the last surviving members of the Cahill family."
I nodded slowly, wondering briefly if Dan was going a bit crazy from being in the cell for so long. I reached for his hand through a slot in the bars. "I knew that, Dan," I said carefully, "Grace told us years ago, right after Mom and Dad died, and she took us in. Don't you remember?"
Dan glared at me, shaking my hand off and leaning closer to me, almost so that his face was pressed up against the bars. "This is important, Amy! Stop treating me like a little kid who doesn't know what he's talking about and listen."
I reddened slightly at his angry tone. "S-Sorry." I muttered, giving him my full attention now.
"It said that we're the last members of the Cahill-" Dan paused dramatically, "-Noble family."
My face drained as I stared into my brother's intent green gaze. "W-What are you talking about?" I stammered weakly. Dan's words made no sense, but the somber tone in which he said them sent cold doubt creeping up my spine. He sounded like he really believed what he was saying.
Dan came even closer, and clasped the bars with both hands. "There's a will," He began, watching intently for my reaction. "It's hidden somewhere in this castle, and it proves that we are the rightful heirs to it."
My head spun with all of this new information. It wasn't possible... It just couldn't be! Dan must have misunderstood. Grace wasn't rich or powerful. She lived in a tiny run-down cottage and tended a vegetable garden, just like any villager would.
"No, you're wrong, Dan." I whispered, pressing a hand to my suddenly throbbing temples. "You're wrong!"
"Think about it, Amy." Dan pressed, seeing the disbelieving look on my face. "Remember all of the lessons she insisted we have? Remember how the other kids thought it was weird for us to learn how to read and write? And then there were the dancing lessons; why did we need to know how to do a waltz? She was training us to become nobles, Amy."
At the mention of books, my mind perked up. Yes, we owned books, but had I ever stopped to wonder where Grace had gotten them..?
My heart thumped against my rib cage. Was it possible that Grace's lessons weren't as meaningless as they seemed?
"Let me see the letter." I said faintly, holding out my hand to Dan.
He exhaled, his eyes not meeting mine. "I don't have it." He said, absentmindedly drawing a 'C' in the dust on the floor with his foot.
I frowned. "What? W-Where is it?"
Dan pointed at his stomach, a sheepish grin on his face. "I ate it." He confessed.
I made a face, imagining Dan chewing on a soggy wad of paper and ink. "Why on earth would you do something like that?!" I asked slightly hysterically, my stomach curling at the thought.
"I had to!" He said defensively. "I sneaked back into the castle to try and find the will, but then that girl who drugged me decided to make a surprise return and I had to hide the evidence... Oh, and that boyfriend of yours, Jake? He's totally evil. He locked me in here when I wouldn't tell him what was on the paper."
I felt my face flush in sudden anger at the mention of Jake. "He's not my boyfriend." I retorted, "I-I never want to see that horrible boy again!"
Dan grinned. "Finally, you've seen the light. I never liked that guy... Now, get me out of here. We have a will to find!"
My next words were almost out of my mouth when I heard it.
The door to the dungeon creaked open, and suddenly, Natalia's face smirked down in at us. "What is this I hear about a will?" She crowed triumphantly. In an instant, Jake was at her side, and I backed away as the boy came menacingly closer to my brother and I. "Grab the girl." Natalia ordered casually.
"No!" I blurted. My back was in a corner now, and Jake was advancing steadily closer to me.
"Amy!" Dan rattled the bars in a desperate effort to grab me, but it was too late.
Jake had reached me, "S-Stay away from me!" I warned, brandishing the broken knife in my sweaty palm.
Jake barely acknowledged my weapon. Without a flicker of remorse in his brown eyes, he grabbed my wrist and twisted it sharply. I gasped as agony shot up my arm, and the knife dropped from my grasp, falling to the floor with a loud clang.
Jake's face was a mask of stone as he yanked me roughly towards the dungeon door. "You're coming with me." He muttered, seeming oblivious to my frantic struggles.
"No! DAN!" I screamed, fighting fiercely against Jake's rapidly tightening grip as he dragged me away from the cell. I didn't want to be taken away from my brother.
The last things I heard before I was shoved though the door were Dan's worried shouts of protest, echoing dully off of the dungeon walls.
